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Nara City District
The Nara City District is an ancient, reserved district that has remained isolated and detached from even its prefectural neighbors. Due to the district's extensive history, shrines, and temples, the Nara Games have retained an unusual and complex methodology that has mirrored the afterlife processes of the various religions of the district. Even the names and titles of Players, Reapers, and Officers are different, named after demons and gods involved in the afterlife. The city itself is a large historical and cultural site, most notable of which include the Todai-ji. Hundreds upon thousands of both native Japanese and tourists alike travel to the city each day, yet the district's UG have remained tightly enclosed. If anything, the constant number of people in the district has forced it to remain closed; the district has to have games nearly constantly and has an inflated number of both Reapers and Players. Even so, the Composer has stubbornly rejected all incoming and outcoming transfer requests, only accepting a few drifters to move in and out of the games. As such, the Reapers in the district are often tightly knit and loyal to their groups, and even drifters who leave the district hold great pride in their origins. The old saying goes: "You can never leave the Nara District". Current Standing Officers Composer: "Enma Dai-Oh". Identity Unknown. Conductor: "Asura" Daisuke Iwasaki Producer: "Deva". Identity Unknown. Other Notable Officers: "Yama" Ikura Ikoi Previously Standing Officers Conductor: "Asura" DUKE Officer: "Kishin" Nanami Kuramayama About 'The Game' Nara's Game follows the Shinto-Buddhist ideas of judgement, karma, and reincarnation. Players who participate in the games are given the opportunity to reflect upon their lives to identify and potentially rectify their sins before being judged. Thus the week is not a constant battle to strengthen the Player's will to live, but also a heated philosophical dialectic between both Players and Reapers to find their individual truths and flaws. Child's Limbo Days 1-5 operate similarly to the "standard" week. Players partner up and are given objectives while attacked by Reapers and Noise. Due to the larger number of Players, not all Players will be given the same objectives. They're often put into smaller groupings of Players that have similar objectives, or are assigned special objectives by an Officer beneath them. Because of this, the rules dictate that each player pair must clear walls and objectives independantly from other Players. One pair of Players cannot "clear" walls or objectives for other Players. Reapers are given an additional tool to weed out the larger playerbase of weaker individuals. Support Reapers are not only required to set up and supervise Walls, but to keep up constant reports on the progress of the Players. If enough reports gauge that a Player has failed to show any improvement over a period of 2 days, the Game Master of the week can release a "kill order". Once a Player is marked with a kill order, Reapers are allowed to attack that player directly before Day 6. Sanzu River Day 6's objective is always the same. Reach the central temple of Todai-ji by the end of the day. The entire day is symbolic of the Sanzu River and the Styx, where souls are ferried across the river before facing their final judgement. The "river" is also lengthened or shortened based on the Player's reported progress by allowing certain Players from passing walls without any task, or reinforcing walls with harder tasks for Players who have yet to prove themselves. All the while, Reapers are allowed to confront Players directly, offering yet another obstacle for those who have fallen behind. Compared to the slower first 5 days, the sixth day proves to be a ruthless race to the finish. Judgement Day 7 occurs once all surviving Players enter the Todai-ji, even if the actual day hasn't passed. Here, the gamemaster, or Yama, acts as the final judge of karma and passes verdict on each individual Player. This can take an excruciating amount of time, and thus Players are given room, food, and healing during judgement. The Yama interrogates each Player on their past life, their choices, and their new goals, while examining all the gathered reports over the week. The Yama then judges each Player as Sinful or Cleared of Sin, and sends them back. Depending on their verdict, each Player gets different options. Players who are deemed to still have too much sin, or have shown little determination or potential to change have very few options left for them. They can opt to play the game again with a different Entry Fee, accept their judgement as final and pass on peacefully, or fight the Yama with the others as one final chance to prove themselves. Those that defeat the Yama are then also given the option to return to the RG, but forfeit their Entry Fee permanently. Players who have proven worthy are taken to the center chamber of Todai-ji, where the Conductor (Ashura) stands. The Ashura gives each Player the option to return to the RG either with or without their Entry Fee, and sometimes listens to additional requests for certain instances. Those who have shown exceptional growth and untapped potential are also given the option to become a Reaper, while a rare if not unheard number of Players are beckoned to the Composer's private chambers, where... something... happens. No one is certain, honestly. 'Reapers and Reaper Groups' Nara's larger Playerbase generally means that there will always be a game held every Week, and has resulted in a larger number of Reapers accumulated over time. To control this larger number, the Reapers are often more responsible for managing paperwork in the form of reports of Player's accomplishments and development over the course of the week, maintaining and reorganizing files of exPlayers to the archives, and the maintenance of an off-duty job or "alibi". Most of the Reaper's life is off-duty while waiting to receive an assigned Week. Reapers who choose or request to be part of multiple weeks consecutively are rare, and often seen as oddities in the system. The Reaper community, as a consequence of its size, is often split up into cliques with different goals or ideals or desires. Though most cliques are just between friend groups and rarely conflict with others, there are 3 larger groups of Reapers that share strong feelings towards the games and regularly clash over the course of weeks. These 3 groups are the Oni, the Jaku, and the Gaki. Oni The term Oni, referring to the demons of hell, originally was the term used for Reapers as a general whole. This changed early on as newer generations of Reapers became more focused on their new lives rather than their duty as gatekeepers to reincarnation. Now, the Oni are known as the group of Reapers that remain steadfast in their duty and maintain the rules strongly. They treat their job as a Reaper as a literal job and remain deeply involved in the work even when off duty. In light of newer cliques, the Oni are also often seen as the police force for newer Reapers or for the other cliques should things get rowdy. Most of the Officers and Game Masters have been Oni. Jaku Jaku is short for "Amanojaku", the term for a specific oni who symbolized the complete reversal of traditional morals. Jaku Reapers are those who empathize with the Players and do everything they can to assist them and help them clear their Week. Some of the most extreme of the Jaku will even pact with Players, temporarily relieving themselves of their duties as Reapers to lead a more direct role in assisting Players. While this isn't against any rules, the Oni seem to highly disapprove of it, along with most anything the Jaku do to help Players. They see the Jaku's intentions as innocent, but the Oni believe that such handholding makes players dependant on the Reapers and will only detriment players as a whole. Gaki Gaki are almost universally hated by every other Reaper. The term gaki originally referred to a type of demon that suffered in the afterlife, but nowadays is used as a slang term for "brat". The Gaki Reapers are also the most divided group with different end goals. Their general behavior and attitude is the same: They wish to use the game for their own personal good, and will use any tactic to accomplish their goals. False reports, bribes/ransoms, even pretending to act like a Jaku and help a Player before crossing their backs on the last day are a few examples. The Oni despise the Gaki for their underhanded methods and for ignoring the purpose of the Reaper's Game. Meanwhile the Jaku hate the Gaki for using Players like tools and for faking empathy. Everyone hates the Gaki, so only a few Gaki actually remain or act openly out of fear of being persecuted. Though in recent years, there have been an organization of Gaki Reapers that have been going under "recruitment" methods for reasons unknown. It is important to note that not all Reapers ally or tag themselves as one of these three groups. If anything, these terms are almost seen as slurs. Most Reapers are more preoccupied with their personal lives and see the games as an obligation more than a hunt or fight for survival. The existence of the Oni, Jaku, and Gaki are more of a natural consequence of a relaxed sense of duty. History It's unknown when Nara truly started conducting their games, as the stories vary wildly between third century (the first recorded instance of the Nara capital) and 12th century (during the Genpei wars). Some scholars even speculate that the Nara games may predate Japan due to the unorthodox naming of the Reapers as well as the Composer's concealed identity. Throughout its history, the Nara UG had focused on aligning itself with its Buddhist origins, specifically with events that occurred within the Todai-ji. Timeline * 710: First recorded Reaper's Game. Mentions spirits, familiars, and demons that are now known as Players, Noise, and Reapers respectively. * 784: Due to the move of the capital, Reaper's Games settle into its permanent home of Todai-ji. First recorded instance of the name Enma Dai-oh. * 794: Beginning of the Heian period. Frequency of games begin to increase from once a month during the new moon. * 810: Golden age of Nara's UG begins as Kukai heads Todai-ji. * 824: As more commoners are given access to Buddhist scripture and religious practice, more and more people are allowed to participate in the Nara games. Reaper's Game is shortened from 12 days to one week. * 863: End of the Golden age, as focus shifts away from the Nara District. * 1180: Genpei War. Nara is burned to the ground along with several of its main temples. The influx of souls and Noise is said to have nearly destroyed the entirety of the UG. To avoid further crowding and interference from Kamakura and Heian, the Composer begins Nara's infamous isolation. * 1185: Total reconstruction begins. Only the Composer and Conductor stayed in their positions, all other Reapers were promoted to Officers as a mass hiring of Reapers began. Nara Games became continuous with no breaks. ** First note of the Reaper's work shift is noted: Of course they reject my request for vacation time. Now that the Oni rotate week shifts, no one can get any solid vacation time. * 1561: Oda Nobunaga begins razing temples at Mt. Hiei. The political strife causes the Composer to loosen restrictions on the Nara District, allowing Nara reapers to transfer to other areas as well as allow drifters to enter. * 1567: Drifters are no longer allowed to enter, only Reapers originating from Nara District are permitted to enter. * 1868: Meiji Restoration begins. Nara District officially changes their names to reflect other Districts. Atheist and aboriginals are permitted to participate in Weeks. The Modern Nara District begins. * 2015: Fujiko Ikoi becomes the first foreign Reaper to be allowed to participate in Nara District Games since the 1567 restrictions. Trivia Category:Districts